


It Was Until It Wasn't

by Equalitea



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Lily Evans Potter, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, He's still a BAMF Marauder though, Lesbian Character of Colour, Marauders, Marauders' Era, Marlene is a firework, Mary Macdonald likes girls, Personal Growth, Peter Pettigrew is treated like he's an actual character, Probably too many characters, Protective Remus Lupin, Regulus Black wants to be like his brother but also doesn't, Remus Lupin is the group's sarcastic mother, Severus has regrets, Sirius Black & James Potter Friendship, Slow Burn, Swearing, so does Dorcas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-08 04:11:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11638644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Equalitea/pseuds/Equalitea
Summary: James Potter, Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Marlene Mckinnon, Remus Lupin, Hestia Jones, Peter Pettigrew, Mary Macdonald, Frank Longbottom, Dorcas Meadowes, Severus Snape, Alice Fortescue, Regulus Black - 13 interwoven lives all with their own story.A tale of love, loss, heartbreak, war, tragedy, drama, fun, friends, enemies and, above all else, a tale of 13 confused teenagers trying to figure things out.





	It Was Until It Wasn't

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to my first attempt at a multi chapter Marauders' Era extravaganza. First up is Miss Lily Evans. This chapter basically exists because I wanted to write the word legwarmers. 
> 
> All characters belong to J.K

**LILY I**

 

* * *

It was England’s fault, she decided groggily. If she lived somewhere where the sun wasn’t a family friends that visited occasionally for about half an hour before leaving, then she wouldn’t be so attached to her duvet. It was September, for God’s sake, a month that is recognised by the nation as a period of time where Summer transitions into Autumn. It was supposed to be warm but, alas, England was a rebellious teen fighting against the norm. This meant that Lily Juliet Evans would rather eat an entire room full of snot flavoured Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans than leave the cocoon of warmth she found herself wrapped in. The only flaw in her impeccable plan to stay in bed forever was the blaring annoyance of her alarm clock. The Gryffindor witch considered, halfheartedly, smashing it to bits but it had been a Christmas present off Petunia. True, it was a pretty shit Christmas present, especially considering that Lily had spent ages looking for that one dress that her Mum had said Tuney had been begging for. It still mattered to her though. Every time Petunia (her sister asked her to stop calling her Tuney. It was a childish nickname, she’d said, and Petunia Evans was not a child anymore) called her a freak, every time she ignored her when she spoke to her, every Christmas and Birthday when Petunia would say a forced thank you and throw whatever gift Lily had got her to the side, Lily still loved her sister. She loved her but she didn’t like her sister.  This, alone, was the reason she didn’t smash her alarm, Lily simply glared at it and switched it off.

It was 6am, an ungodly hour and one Lily should never have to bear witness too but, unfortunately, her Mum was a firm believer in being early to everything. The Gryffindor gritted her teeth and swung herself out of bed. She’d never admit that it was her own fault that she was cold. Mr Michael Evan’s old Beatles T-shirt wasn’t the warmest of garments but, if she closed her eyes really tight, she could still smell him on it and that brought her an unimaginable amount of comfort so she didn’t really give a fuck. She was less than discreet in her obvious favouritism of her Dad. She loved her Mum, of course she did, but her Dad just understood Lily more. He got it when Lily just wanted to sit in the living room on the worn armchair next to the fireplace and read, he understood that Lily would sooner eat a spider than have to go on one of her Mum’s and Petunia’s shopping trips and he understood the amount of pain she felt every time she caught Petunia harshly calling her a freak under her breath.

Her auburn hair was, as her Dad used to say, as wild as her personality. Some parts of it curled, some parts were completely straight and other parts managed to knot together so tightly she feared that her mother would actual go through with her threat of marching her magical daughter down to the salon and cutting the nest of ginger strands into a pixie cut. On her, in her opinion, too long walk to the bathroom, she caught a glimpse of the mess atop her head in the mirror and winced. Lily wanted to be one of those girls who didn’t care how they looked but, and she blamed society for this, she really wasn’t. At least she had just over 2 hours to get ready. Her Dad was taking her down to King’s Cross Station (her mother and Petunia not wanting to have to endure the 2-and-a-half-hour journey) at 8:30, giving her just enough time to have breakfast and haul her pre-packed trunk down the stairs after she was finished getting ready. The young witch thanked the universe that Petunia prided herself on her beauty sleep, otherwise, she’d have to wait half the day and make a sacrifice to the Gods to ever get into the bathroom.

Lily washed and dressed quickly. The 80s seemed to be becoming the decade of bright colours which Lily, with her bright auburn hair, was not a fan of. She usually stuck to whites, greys and blacks because of this. For the journey down to Hogwarts, she’d chosen to wear an oversized black jumper dress that was synched in at the waist by a large white statement belt. Petunia had stolen her legwarmers so she just went with her black flats.  There was no way she was walking into that bear cave for any item of clothing.

Not wanting to wake her other daughter up, Susan Evans lightly tapped on the bathroom door to remind Lily that other people had to get ready too. Lily pulled the last knot out of her hair before she left the bathroom. Her Mum met her in the hallway. While Lily might have favoured her dad, she looked nothing like him. Everybody that knew both her and her Mum remarked at how alike they looked. Both had emerald coloured eyes and long auburn hair, though, Lily thought reproachfully, her Mum’s was never as messy as her own.

“Breakfast is on the table. I know you don’t like it but Petunia is on her health kick so it’s muesli.” Susan paused as her youngest daughter mimed throwing up, “Lily, you know I hate it when you pull that face. Anyway, I’m going to say goodbye to you now because I’ve got to meet up with Sharon and Linda before yoga and you know that if I’m not exactly on time then Linda will bitch about me to Sharon. It’s not my fault her marriage is failing but, no, she has to act like a total…” Lily tuned her Mum out. It’d be another 5 minutes on why Linda Castino was the worst person on the planet, despite being her Mum’s best friend, before she got a teary goodbye and a surprisingly strong hug off her below-average-height Mother. True to form, five minutes later Lily was rubbing her arm trying to ease the pain left on her from the embrace.

Somebody, years ago, had rejected humanity and decided to live as a rabbit. They’d make their own burrow, only squeaked to talk and only ate what rabbits did. Eventually, somebody had stumbled into their burrow, Alice style, and they’d fallen in love. Deciding to once again join humanity and become part of society so their partner didn’t have to live in a cramped burrow, the rabbit-person left their old lifestyle behind. However, they found it difficult to completely get rid of everything about their old life. To make the transition from person to rabbit to person again easier, their partner still made them rabbit food to eat. When friends and family came around they too ate this rabbit food and they pretended like it was actually delicious to make the rabbit-person happy, when it was completely disgusting. And that is the story of why 16-year-old Lily Evans, had to eat fucking muesli – a food clearly meant for small woodland animals.

She had a spoonful and then threw it in the bin.

15 minutes, one dented trunk, one sore back, one shout from Petunia telling their Dad to be quiet, one shout from their Dad telling Petunia that if she could haul Lily’s trunk down from her bedroom quietly then he’d give her £100, one cat that refused to get in his cage, 5 scratches on Lily’s arms later, her dad, one ginger cat called Oscar and herself were in the car heading towards the train station. Beatles blasting, car warmer on and one Lily Evans was prepared for her sixth year at Hogwarts.

It was a fairly long drive from the Cokeworth in the Midlands to London but Lily and her dad chatted aimlessly to pass the time. Lily told him about parts of the magical world and Michael Evans listened, smiling at the passion in his daughter’s voice. When they arrived, Lily literally sprinted to get the trolley so they could go through the barrier. The car journey had given the excitement to be going back to school enough time to spread all throughout her body and she was now a volcano ready to explode. She’d missed her friends so much. They’d written to each other – Marlene talked about her family drama, something unavoidable in the McKinnon household as Mr and Mrs McKinnon had 10 children, Mary wrote about how her parents weren’t letting her see Dorcas because the vampiric looking girl was apparently distracting Mary from getting the best grades, Dorcas wrote about how shitty Mary’s parents were for not letting her see her girlfriend, Hestia wrote about her trip back to her Ma’s childhood home in Spain to visit her Gram, Alice joyfully wrote about how she was Head Girl and Frank, her long term boyfriend, was Head Boy and Remus had written to her about the antics the self-named Marauders had been getting up to. Lily had loved the letters, crying out in joy every time an Owl pecked at her window. She’d spent a small fortune on black pens (blue pens were for the weak) but it wasn’t the same as actually seeing them in person.

“Hey Lil-Bear isn’t that Severus over there looking at you?” Her Dad said and, just like that, her excitement was no more. She didn’t look at him but her Dad’s words meant she could feel her old friend’s black eyes burning into her flesh. She wouldn’t look at him, she couldn’t. Lily had spent the whole of the Summer Holidays pretending he didn’t exist. She’d caught him sometimes sitting on the patch of grass opposite her house but she never went out to talk to him, never let him know she’d seen him. It was too painful. He’d been her best friend. Marlene was her best friend too but it had been different with Sev. He’d been the one to tell her about this world yet he’d been the one who’d called her that. A Mudblood. When he’d persuaded Mary (who was too friendly for her own good, goddammit) to ask Lily to talk to him outside of the Gryffindor common room, he’d cried and begged and pleaded but Lily couldn’t forgive him. She’d wanted to, but she couldn’t. She’d always been stubborn, he’d said to her, but she couldn’t be about this. He said he couldn’t cope if she never forgave him. She’d told him he’d have to learn to. Marly, with all the tact of a carnival, had asked her if she would eventually forgive him. Lily thought her best friend’s smirk when she said she’d never was the most unattractive Marlene had ever been. She knew that nobody liked Sev because of his association with the Slytherin group who were obvious Voldemort supporters. He was different though, she’d argued until her voice left her, he promised me he’d never be like them, he’d never speak like them, he’d never do what they did. Yet he had and Lily couldn’t forgive that. He’d broken a promise and, in doing so, broke the part of Lily.

“Maybe, we should give him some time with his parents.” Lily told her Dad, purposely marching forward to get away from the Slytherin. Michael Evans followed his daughter through the barrier, concern in his eyes.

The train was truly magnificent. Pristine and perfectly red, it looked as though it belonged in fairy tales. Merely, looking at it made Lily feel better.

“You know Lils, I haven’t seen Severus a whole lot this Summer. I know you usually go out with him because Tuney made clear her feelings on the boy but you were inside a lot. Is everything okay between you two?”

Lily hadn’t told her parents. Her Mum would have marched straight down to Crouch End and banged on the Snape household door until Eileen or, worse, Tobias Snape answered. Her Mum would have shouted, got shouted at and it would end in tears on both sides. It was easier to pretend that things were fine. And things were fine because Lily was pretending that Severus didn’t exist. Although, her Dad didn’t seem to be respecting her plan.

“Everything’s fine Dad. Sev got a job, is all. They make him work really long hours so he’s been tired.”

She was going to Hell. There was probably a whole section dedicated to daughters who lied to their Dads. Mr. Evans seemed to realise that Lily didn’t want to discuss it further so he dropped the subject. Pulling her in for a hug, he squeezed her tightly. She melted into the embrace and smiled when he kissed the top of her head.

“I’m going to miss you Lil-Bear” His voice was low and grumbly which meant he was close to tears.

Lily glared at him, good humouredly, “If you cry, I cry and that would be a disaster.”

Her Dad chuckled before waving to somebody behind her. “Looks like trouble has found us.”

“Mr. Evans,” an Irish female voice said reproachfully from behind Lily, “You said I was like a third daughter to you!”

The auburn-haired Gryffindor turned around so quickly one might think she’d given herself whiplash.

“MARLY!”

Marlene McKinnon, her best friend in the universe, had long blonde hair that always seemed smooth and silky. Even when the firework of a girl bounded into the common room after Quidditch practice, she looked perfect. With tanned skin and blue eyes that always seemed to have a mischievous glint, Marlene was practically top of everybody’s ‘I wish I could date this person’ list. Marlene, or, as most called her, Marly, was Gryffindor’s prized seeker and notorious party girl. Lily loved her like a sister and liked her more than her actual one.

Mr Evans laughed as the two girls squeezed each other tightly. Marlene’s mouth was full of Lily’s wild hair but her best friend didn’t seem to care at all.

“God knows I’ve basically adopted you Marly and any daughter of mine means trouble. Make sure to write Lily, or your Mum will cry herself into a despair and have fun. I’ll miss you Lils.”

“I promise Dad.” She told him, crossing her heart, “Love you.”

She barely heard her Dad say that he loved her too before Marly was dragging her over to the rest of her friends. Lily’s other friends consisted of Mary Macdonald who was dark skinned, tall and so friendly that she always seemed radiant, Dorcas Meadowes who had black hair that fell to her shoulders, piercing blue eyes and whom always seemed to know what you were thinking and, finally, Hestia Jones who was olive skinned, brown haired and so laid back it was almost impossible to piss her off. With them was Lily’s friend Alice Fortescue who was a year older and was currently gushing about how Frank had given her a promise ring to the rest of the Sixth-Year girls.

“Look who I found.” Marlene grinned, throwing her arm around Dorcas (who, in their first year, had told them to call her Cas because ‘Dorcas is a stupid name my parents gave me because they wanted me to be bullied. It’s literally got dork in it guys’) Lily grinned and hugged all of the girls in front of her.

“Oi. Hands off my girlfriend.” Mary fake-glared at Marlene who stuck her tongue out at Mary, Cas rolled her eyes and asked Alice to carry on with her story, Hestia winked at Lily before telling everybody that everybody else was getting onto the train. It was like she’d never been away, Lily thought with a smile. They all dragged their cases, pets and other luggage towards the vehicle. Eventually, they found an empty compartment and fell into it. They giggled, joked and teased each other the entire time. When the luggage was successfully, with the help of Alice who had a knack for organisation, put away, Lily and Alice bid goodbye to the rest of the gang before walking towards the prefect carriage.

“So what’s our oh so marvellous Head Girl got instore for us?” Lily asked bumping her shoulder against Alice’s. The older girl laughed. It was an action that lit up her whole face. Alice was the type of girl gifted with a face that made everybody instantly know you were a kind person.

“Like you don’t know that you’ll be partnered up with Remus for patrol.” Alice said, rolling her brown eyes at Lily. The younger Gryffindor grinned back at her. It was well established that Lily and Remus worked well together. Sure, she only tolerated Black and Potter who were his close friends but Remus was different. Mainly, he was quieter. They’d gotten closer in the last year. Something had happened, she wasn’t sure what, between the rest of the group and Black. Potter was Chaser on the Gryffindor quidditch team and Peter, the other Marauder she got along with, often went to watch them train. That meant while Black was off God knows where, Remus was often left by himself. They took a lot of the same subjects, like Ancient Ruins and Potions, so it made sense to include him in their study sessions. That combined with spending time with him while they patrolled for Prefect duty meant that he’d soon become one of her closest friends. Judging from his letters to her over the Holidays, though, the group seemed to have made up with Black. Lily was secretly glad. She may not have agreed with a lot of what Black and Potter did but seeing the dark-haired boy mope around without any of his friends brought down the entire Gryffindor student population.

“She doesn’t see me all Summer and then looks right through me. Can you believe it?” A low, comforting voice filled with humour said from in front of her. Lily realised that she’d vanished inside her head again and apologised to the thin blonde boy in front of her. His long arms were stretched out and Lily fell into them. Remus Lupin was a very good hugger a fact amplified by his partiality for soft jumpers.

“Good to see you again Ginge.” He said as they parted from the hug, “Oh and look at that, there’s our esteemed Head Girl. Ready to take charge because, while I like Frank, there is no way that our Head Boy is any good at sticking to his guns.”

As Alice, walking into the compartment, defended how Frank wasn’t a pushover and Remus laughed. Lily took a moment and paused. This, this was where she belonged. This year was going to be the best she’d ever had at Hogwarts. She was going to get good grades, make new friends and have so much fun with her current ones.

James Potter had different plans.

**Author's Note:**

> So there you have it! I hope you enjoyed. Next up will either be Marlene, James, Remus or Severus - unless anybody desperately wants any of the others POV.


End file.
